God forbid, if Sir Alexander Flemming didn't find the inhibition of bacteria
around a colony of Penicillium most of us would be dead now.
Then, when B.O.Dodge told Tatum (or Beatle, I forgot which was his student)
that Neurospora has an interesting life cycle and he should study it, he had
no idea that there was a "economic" aspect to the observation and the "one
gene, one enzyme concept would not have been discovered and the magnificent
subsequent discoveris of genes, DNA, molecular biology, Biotechnology, etc.,
would still be beyond us.
Lets see.....what about the discovery of mycorrhizae and the relationships
to truffles.....!
How about a mycologists observations that grape vines sprayed with a
concoction of lime and copper sulfate had a protective effect from Downy
mildws of grapes.